People have valued various metallic objects since early times when metallic wares were first fabricated and worn about the body for ornamental or functional purposes, in addition to the use of various metals as the basis for coinage. As is well known, valuable metals and alloys commonly include silver, gold, copper, and other metals such as those in Group VIII of the transition metals in the periodic table of the elements. Typically, valuable manufactures which comprise valuable metals include rings, earrings, wristwatches, necklaces, pendants, belt buckles, and coins.
It is not uncommon for the possessor of a valuable metallic ware to lose it. Often, coins fall out of the pockets of a garment that a person is wearing. Necklace clasps may become loosed, causing the necklace to fall from the person's neck, unnoticed. During physical activity, such as sports or other play, it is relatively easy for an item to be lost during the play, only to be noticed as missing several hours later, with the person who lost the ware being uncertain as to exactly where or when the item was lost.
One location where valuable metallic items are typically lost is along a beach shoreline, since when an item is dropped in sand, it does not make a sound. Further complicating this are cases where items are lost by persons bathing, such as in a lake, ocean, river, or other body of water. Even if the person is aware of the instant at which the object is lost, it is frequently impossible to locate the article, since the floor of the ocean, lake, river, etc. typically comprises mud or sand, into which the relatively heavy metallic object sinks or settles. Losing an item on a beach at low tide will often cause the item to be submerged beneath water at high tide. It is believed that millions of dollars of precious metal in the form of fabricated jewelry and coins lies in unknown locations beneath the floor of oceans, lakes, rivers, and like bodies of water. In addition, there are natural deposits of precious metals, such as gold nuggets, which reside in the bottoms of mountain streams.
Various workers in the prior art aware of the enormous value of metallic items which lie submerged beneath the floor of a body of water have provided a plurality of devices and methods designed for the recovery of such values. The following items in the prior art of US patents are each incorporated by reference hereto, in their entirety. U.S. Pat. No. 861,859 teaches a prospecting tool having a case adapted to be driven into the earth, a member operating therein and adapted to raise a quantity of earth, and a basket attached to the upper portion of the case and constituting a screen through which water may pass. U.S. Pat. No. 2,028,580 provides a hydraulic suction nozzle having: a) a tubular shaft having a longitudinal external groove therein; b) a port connecting the groove with the duct of the shaft; c) a closure member for the port engaged entirely in the groove; and d) a means to fix the closure member in either operative or inoperative relation to the port while disposed in the groove. U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,355 sets forth an improved dredge having a pump; a sluice box; a distributor box having a front wall, a target plate fixedly mounted in the distributor box with the target plate substantially evenly distributing into the sluice box water and solids entrained in the water which impinge the target plate; and a flexible conduit having an inlet end and an outlet end, with the conduit having an outer surface having a helical projection, and wherein the conduit is operationally connected to the pump. The improvements comprise: a) a flange mounted on the front wall of the distributor box, wherein the flange has a bore sized to receive a flexible conduit within it, and the bore has a helical indentation to receive the helical projection of the flexible conduit, and wherein the outlet end of the flexible conduit is threaded into the bore of the flange; b) a bore through the front wall of the distributor box sized and positioned so that the outlet end of the flexible coupling can project into the distributor box; whereby the distance between the outlet end of the flexible conduit and the target plate can be varied by rotating the conduit relative to the flange. U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,251 discloses a portable, lightweight, hand operated dredge head and for being held by the arms of a diver operator for underwater excavating, comprising: a) a tubular suction nozzle having a lower inlet end and an open upper end for the entry of water therein; b) a tubular discharge branch extending from the nozzle and at a point intermediate the length of the tubular nozzle, wherein the tubular branch has a discharge end for connection to a suction pipe for conveying excavated material away from the head; c) a swivel coupling means between the discharge end of the branch and the suction pipe whereby the head can be rotationally swiveled relative to the suction pipe and quickly detachably connected thereto; and d) a hand operated valve pivotally mounted in the nozzle adjacent its upper end. There is an operator's handle secured to the valve and extending from the nozzle for permitting the diver operator to move the valve to any adjusted position between a closed position and an open position and for thereby varying the amount of water introduced through the valve and into the nozzle to thereby vary the suction at the lower inlet end of the nozzle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,686 describes a metal detection apparatus comprising: a) a nonmetallic basket means having a top portion, a side wall portion, an open bottom, and a blade portion for scooping material into the basket means through the open bottom; b) a handle means having a first end attached to the basket means; c) a metal detection coil means for detecting metal objects; and d) a pivotal mounting means for pivotally mounting the metal detection coil means with respect to the basket means and for holding the metal detection coil means in a first search position proximate and at least partially covering the open bottom for detection of metal objects, and for permitting the metal detection coil means to pivot to a second position within the basket means as the basket means fills with material. U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,391 teaches a hand-held suction dredge and metal detector comprising: a) a hollow pipe adapted to be carried in a vertical position; b) a metal detector having a central aperture supported for sliding movement on the pipe with the lower pipe end extending therethrough for receiving and transmitting at least partially fluid material therethrough; c) a spring means urging the metal detector toward an initial position at the lower end of the pipe; d) a fluid jet means positioned in the pipe directed upward therein; e) a pump means supported by the pipe and connected to the fluid jet means to circulate fluid therethrough to create a suction in the pipe to draw at least partially fluid material from the bottom end through the pipe to discharge the same from the upper end of the pipe, and f) a basket means supported on the upper end of the pipe having openings sized to permit discharge of at least partially fluid material and retain larger metal solids therein. The pipe is operable in use to support the metal detector adjacent to a region being investigated and to dredge material therefrom by operation of the pump means and, a motor means supported by the pipe above the upper end of the pipe for operating the pump means. U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,691 provides an apparatus for removing mud and silt ecologically safely from a waterbottom without destroying benthos contained therein, comprising: a) a source of air under pressure; b) a weighted body having a large aperture disposed therethrough and a suction chamber therein; c) a discharge conduit having a first end and second end, the discharge conduit first end connected to the aperture of the weighted body and connected in fluid communication with the suction chamber therein; d) an air supply conduit having a first end and second end, the air supply conduit connected at the first end to the source of air under pressure and at the second end, to the suction chamber in the weighted body, the air conduit second end including a means for generating bubbles; e) a filtered container connected to the second end of the discharge conduit, whereby mud and silt can be removed by directing air under pressure into the suction chamber where it forms bubbles which rise up through the discharge conduit; f) a source of water under pressure; g) a water conduit having a first end and a second end, the water conduit first end connected to the source of water under pressure, and the second end connected, in fluid communication, to a plurality of water jet nozzles connected to the weighted body; and h) a means for controlling each of the plurality of water jets, connected between the first end and the second end of the water conduit, wherein the weighted body moves in a predetermined direction responsive to activated water jet nozzles. U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,530 sets forth a shell casing retrieval system comprising: a) a plenum; b) a shell casing pickup tube having two end portions and having a shell casing pickup head on one end portion thereof and being attached to the plenum at the other end portion thereof; c) a metal detector attached to the pickup tube adjacent the shell casing pickup head; d) a shell casing recovery container attached to the plenum for collected shell casings being drawn through the pickup tube; and e) a vacuum connection attached to the plenum for connection to a vacuum source for placing a negative pressure in the plenum and pickup tube to draw shell casings detected by the metal detector into the plenum and into the shell casing recovery container responsive to a negative pressure being placed on the shell casing pickup tube.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,970,635 discloses a system for dredging material from a ground surface below a body of water, comprising: a) a dredge head housing having a pair of spaced side walls, a tail piece extending between rear ends of the side walls and a top cover extending between top edges of the side walls, thereby forming an enclosed agitation chamber having an open bottom opposite the top cover and an intake opening opposite the tail piece for receiving material from the ground surface into the agitation chamber, thereby forming a dredge line in the ground surface; b) a feed line connected to and extending away from the housing for supplying a pressurized fluid; c) a fluid manifold within and connected to the housing and fluidly connected to the feed line for receiving the pressurized fluid, the manifold comprising a plurality of cutting outlets for injecting the pressurized fluid onto material in front of and entering the intake opening, thereby liquefying the material into an agitated mixture; d) the top cover defining a discharge opening for exhaust of the agitated mixture, the manifold including at least one upwardly-directed lift outlet for discharging pressurized fluid to urge the agitated mixture towards and into the discharge opening; and e) a a riser chute connected to and extending upward from the discharge opening to a free end of the riser chute, the free end having a chute opening, whereby the riser chute directs the liquefied material upward and into the body of water for transfer away from the dredge line.
However, each of these devices of the prior art and methods associated with their use are not without limitations. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for simultaneous location and recovery of metallic items which reside submerged beneath the floor of a body of water. It is a further object to provide such a device which can be operated by a single user. It is a further object still to provide such a device which is lightweight in construction, and which can be taken down to fit within a small storage space. It is a further object still to provide such a device having increased efficiency and ergonomics by virtue of its design and weight distribution over the devices of the prior art.